Dualism
by Kirii
Summary: For the 30 confessions challenge on livejournal. A series of one-shots focusing on Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. Varying degrees of slash, hints of twincest. More to come as I get them done. Formerly just known as "Pulse".
1. Pulse

**Title: **Pulse**  
Rating: **PG  
**Pairing: **Sunstreaker/Sideswipe  
**Prompt:** Always // Don't ever leave me  
**Warnings: **Slash. A little more than implied twincest.  
**Author's Note:** Part of the 30_confessions challenge. Theme was _always - don't ever leave me_. Set in G1. Dedicated to hadeseus on LJ, because she is my wonderful and awesome Sunstreaker. Final note, italic dialogue indicates private communication between the twins.  
**Disclaimer: **I only wish I owned them. Alas, they are Hasbro/Takara's, not mine. ;_;

**-Pulse-**

_System rebooting._

Sideswipe gave a groan as his processor was pulled back online. His optics flickered on, taking a moment to let the sensors adjust to the light of the Autobot medical bay. He lifted one hand to shield his optics from the light as they adjusted, then pushed himself up.

"Don't you even think about getting off that berth."

Sideswipe tilted his head so he could see the medic who gave the order. Ratchet was on the other side of the med bay, busily welding what looked to be a panel of Sideswipe's armor. The red melee fighter looked down at himself and saw that his entire hood had been removed. Internal wiring and circuitry, even his spark chamber, lay exposed. He could see the extent of the damage he'd taken and the repairs that Ratchet had already made. He gave a wince at the memory of the shot he'd taken and who he'd taken it for.

"Where's Sunstreaker?" Sideswipe asked.

Ratchet looked up from his work. "Prowl had him taken down to the brig."

"What?" the red mech demanded, twisting to face the medic.

Ratchet held up his arc welder, pointing it at Sideswipe with a glare. "You lay back down this instant. If you pull any of those cables out of place, I'm welding your aft to that berth."

"Why was Sunstreaker taken the brig?" Sideswipe insisted, stubbornly refusing to lie down until he got an answer.

A sigh escaped the white medic. "When he saw you take that shot, he went wild. Started attacking our own, trying to get to you. We had to put him down there for his and our own safety."

"He's not going to be happy when he gets out."

"We'll deal with that when it happens," Ratchet said, going back to his work on Sideswipe's hood. "For now, it keeps him out of here and out of my way. Now lay down before I have to come over there."

Frowning, Sideswipe did as he was told. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment before he let his optics flicker back off and shutter closed. Concentrating, he felt along the connection he shared with his brother and pushed at the bond. Being that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were twins, they had always been able to communicate in private ways. One such way was an unspoken exchange of pulses sent from their very sparks. The resonating pulses could only be picked up by the other twin. It'd been explained to them once--something about their sparks having been one and the same before splitting during the bearing cycling. They'd never really paid attention to the explanation.

Each pulse Sideswipe sent over the connection to his brother meant a different thing. They'd worked out a language of their own at an early age, translating each word of the Cybertronian language into pulses and using those pulses to communicate in secret when they were supposed to be recharging, to keep their creators from overhearing of secrets they shared. They continued to use it now, as adult mechs, for the same reasons as they had when they were younglings; it was their secret language. No one else could use it.

_"Sunstreaker?"_ Sideswipe asked, using the pulses to call his twin's name.

He felt the jump of his brother's spark before the other responded with pulses of his own._ "Sideswipe! You aft! I've been trying to connect to you for over a joor!"_

A smirk appeared on Sideswipe's face. Despite the irritation he could feel through their bond, he knew that Sunstreaker had been worried. _"I've been offline."_

_"Don't you think I __**know**__ that?"_ The force behind the pulses relayed the snappy response.

Sideswipe quickly sent a wave over their connection in an attempt to sooth the anger his brother was feeling. _"I'm online now. Are you alright?"_

There wasn't an immediate response. After half a breem, Sideswipe repeated the second part of his message, only to get an irritated wave in return.

_"How can you ask me that? __**You're**__ the one who took a direct shot from Megatron's cannon."_

Sideswipe paused, feeling the sudden concern that washed over the connection from his brother's spark. He waited, keeping his response held back. He pulled his lower lip in, emulating a gesture of anxiety that he'd seen a few humans demonstrate as he waited for Sunstreaker to say something else.

_"Why did you take that hit?" _Sunstreaker asked, the pulses forming the question slower in their relay, indicating that the yellow twin was upset. _"He was aiming for __**me**__."_

_"You're my brother,"_ Sideswipe replied. _"I wasn't going to let him take you down."_

He could almost feel the angry snarl that Sunstreaker surely let out at that. _"So you let him take you down instead?!"_

Sideswipe gave a sigh, prompting a curious look from Ratchet. The medic had never seen the twins when they were communicating through their sparks, so he had no way of knowing that was the case. He came over, having just finished with the welds on Sideswipe's hood and did a diagnostic run on the red twin, checking for anything out of the ordinary before he began replacing the panel.

Sideswipe ignored the medic as he went about replacing his armor and concentrated on his twin again. _"Sunny, I wasn't going to let him take you away from me."_

_"And what about you? Did you think I would want him taking you from me?"_

Sideswipe paused at that. He hadn't thought about that. Granted, the only thing he _had_ been thinking at the time was making sure that blast didn't hit his brother. He knew that he wouldn't be able to continue functioning without Sunstreaker and it wouldn't be any surprise if Sunstreaker wouldn't be able to go on without him. They were, after all, twins; two parts of the same whole. Together, they were a force to be reckoned with. Apart, they were just two more mechs.

_"Sideswipe, I thought I was going to lose you. Don't you __**ever**__ do that again. Don't you __**ever**__ leave me."_

The wave of anger, pain and, to his surprise, fear that Sideswipe could feel resonating from his brother left Sideswipe speechless. Sunstreaker, his strong, better-than-thou brother, was scared. Sideswipe had never felt that from his twin; Sunstreaker had always been the fearless brother, the one who went charging in with guns blazing and grin on his face.

_"Sunstreaker," _Sideswipe told him, sending a wave of assurance over their connection. _"I'd never leave you. You're my twin and I love you. Always."_

Sunstreaker didn't respond. Sideswipe almost thought that his brother had cut him off, but the connection was still strong. He was about to push at the bond again when Ratchet finished replacing his armor and told him he was clear to leave. Sideswipe shifted, pushing himself off the medical berth and, ignoring Ratchet's gruff mutter of "I don't want to see you in here again for a deca-cycle," headed out of the med bay and through the corridors of the Autobot base, keeping the connection between him and his twin open, in case Sunstreaker broke his silence.

He made his way through the base and down to the brig, walking past an irritated Ironhide and to the holding cell where Sunstreaker sat. He stood in front of his brother's cell and looked through the glowing bars of energy that separated the two of them.

"Sunstreaker?"

Sunstreaker looked up, then stood and stepped towards the entrance of the cell. Sideswipe spared a glance at Ironhide, who gave a nod and hit the button on the controls to shut down the energy that made up the barricade between the twins. Sunstreaker stood there for a moment, waiting for Sideswipe to take the first step toward him. Sideswipe approached his brother and slid his arms around Sunstreaker, silently burying his face in the crook of his brother's neck. Sunstreaker pulled him close and returned the gesture.

"Promise me you won't do that again," he demanded, his vocalizer quiet as he spoke. "I never want to see you hurt like that again."

"I can't do that," Sideswipe replied. "I told you. I'm not letting you be taken away from me."

"And I'm not letting _you_ be taken away from _me._ You're all I have."

Sideswipe pulled away from Sunstreaker. "Then we'll have to watch each other's back. You're all I have, too, you know."

"I know," Sunstreaker said. He pulled Sideswipe back to him, bringing his twin close and pressing his lips against Sideswipe's for a long moment.

A pulse accompanied the kiss. Since Sunstreaker's mouth was too busy to say it, the pulse said it for him: _"I love you, Sideswipe."_

Sideswipe smiled into the kiss and sent of pulse of his own.

_"I love you, too."_

**-Fin-**


	2. Watch the Skies

**Title:** Watch the Skies  
**Rating: **G  
**Pairing:** Sunstreaker/Sideswipe  
**Prompt: **Lonely // Wish you were here  
**Warnings:** Kind of implied slash, if you really squint.  
**Author's Note: **This takes place in movieverse, post 2007-film. Probably the most tame of this series, but we'll see.  
**Disclaimer:** Yeah, right. I wish.

**-Watch the Skies-**

Sideswipe lifted his optics to the skies. He'd been on the planet for only a couple of Earth's months and those months had been busy. The Autobots had been constructing their base of operations in the hills outside Tranquility and, between the work put into the base, the work they did for the human government and the continuing search for wayward Decepticons, Sideswipe had been unable to take a minute to watch the skies since he'd arrived.

The red mech stood alone in the field, away from the busy roads, away from the prying eyes of humans. His optics shone an otherworldly shade of blue, bright electrical light that pierced the darkness of the night. It was cold that night, but the temperature did not bother him; the chill was nothing compared the cold of space.

Sideswipe watched, optics flickering to every movement of light in the sky. Like others, he'd followed Optimus Prime's signal to this small, insignificant planet in a corner of the universe so far from their home planet of Cybertron. He'd followed, in hopes that his other half had also received the message Prime sent out to all Autobots that explored space. When he'd arrived to the planet, he'd sought out his brother in the admittedly small group that already stood with Optimus. Sunstreaker had not been there.

Like others, Sideswipe hoped with each incoming signal that he'd be reunited with one he loved. He'd been denied that reunion a couple times already since his own arrival and he was beginning to wonder if Sunstreaker was even online. His spark's connection to his brother remained strong, a good sign that Sunstreaker was functioning, but they'd been separated for so long that Sideswipe felt incomplete and worried that the emptiness he felt was not just the loneliness he felt without his twin, but an awful sense of loss.

He vented air through his systems in emulation of a human sigh and let his optics shutter closed. He concentrated on his spark, pushing a pulse through the connection he had to his brother's own spark. It was a simple gesture, a sort of "I wish you were here" feeling that he sent through. He received nothing in return, which made his spark ache. Before, when the twins were together, those sort of pulses were immediately returned, full conversations spoken without a word between them. Now, when Sideswipe sent a pulse through the bond, it took cycles for a response to come through, if it did at all.

Sideswipe turned his head, his gaze falling to the ground. He shifted his body, mechanical clicks and whirrs sounding in the silence of the night as he transformed into his Earth alt-mode. He revved the engine of his sleek, Lamborghini Gallardo vehicle mode and drove away from the field. In silence, he headed to the freeway, turned eastward towards the Autobot base in the hills. As he followed the concrete stretch, his sensors picked up an energy signature ahead of him and he pulled up behind the vehicle that the signature was coming from.

It was a sports car, the same make and model of his own alt-mode. The bright yellow body was polished to a shine, not a speck of dirt over the impeccable paintjob. The rims were bright silver, reflecting the light from other cars on the highway. There was no mistake in the signature that Sideswipe picked up. The red Lamborghini smiled to himself and revved his engine as he came up beside the other.

"Race you to the base."

There was a pause, then a pulse pushed through to Sideswipe's spark. _"You're on."_

**-Fin-**


End file.
